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Pete Ortiz shows off his dough-tossing skills while making pizzas during the dinner shift at Dion's last month. In ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe, teens account for 78% of the restaurant's 111-member team.

After years in which teens dropped out of the workforce in droves, many younger members of Gen Z are finding their way back to paying jobs that fit their social, academic and extracurricular lifestyle, and a New Mexico-based pizza chain is welcoming them on their terms.

Dion’s — an Albuquerque-based pizza chain with locations in New Mexico, Colorado and Texas — embraces young people in its workforce and aims to make their work experience a fruitful one.

Workforce participation by teens declined dramatically during the millennial generation before beginning the current rebound — which still hasn’t reached the levels of previous generations, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows.

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Teenagers Pete Ortiz, left, and Deandra Ortiz work with assistant manager Aalizay Lopez, center, on the line making pizzas during the dinner shift at Dion’s last month.

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Assistant manager Aalizay Lopez, left, and Pete Ortiz check on the pies in the oven during the dinner shift at Dion's last month.



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